It used to be customary for the Christmas Season not to begin until after Thanksgiving, but it appears those days are long gone. Witness the number four kids' bestseller, The Elf on the Shelf, a "Christmas tradition" in which parents use a plastic elf as their own personal spy to make sure their kids are being nice instead of naughty. Bah! Humbug!

If you really insist on feeling the holiday spirit for the next six weeks, might we suggest making the Gingerbread Dutch Baby Pancake from the number five adult bestseller, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, instead?

Also new this week, at the top of the adult list, Murder is a Piece of Cake, the latest in Elaine Viets' St. Louis-set Josie Marcus: Mystery Shopper series.

Adult Bestsellers:

1. Murder is a Piece of Cake by Elaine Viets
2. Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer by William Knoedelseder
3. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Off the Leash: How My Dog Inspired Me to Quit My Job, Pack My Car, and Take a Road Trip Across America to Reclaim My Life by Jean Ellen Whatley
5. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman
6. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
7. Winter Dream by Richard Paul Evans
8. NW by Zadie Smith
9. A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver
10. Guerrillas in Civil War Missouri by James W. Erwin

Children's/YA Bestsellers:

1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney
2. Count to Sleep St. Louis by Adam Gamble and Joe Veno
3. To the Top!: A Gateway Arch Story by Amanda E. Doyle and Tony Waters
4. The Elf on the Shelf by Carol V. Aebersold
5. Dinosaur vs. Santa by Bob Shea
6. Safari: A Photicular Book by Dan Kainen and Carol Kaufmann
7. This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers
8. You Are My Little Cupcake by Amy E. Sklansky
9. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney